Yesterday was easy as far as diapering went. As long as they’re prefolded and ready to go, it’s never going to be very complicated to use flats from diaper change to diaper change.

She didn’t wet very much during the night so the two layers of flat diapers weren’t even fully saturated. She went through nine flat diapers total, and there were no leaks either during the day or during the night, which means no more turd hunting.

We went to the library and the park and she decided to have her one poop of the day while we were out and since there wasn’t even a bathroom close enough for me to dunk it, I had to carry it around in my zippered wet bag for the next few hours. I’ve had to do that before with pocket diapers and I never thought anything of it, but with a flat diaper, it really made my diaper bag stink. I suppose it’s because there was no waterproof layer over the flat diaper that the smell permeated the bag. But once I got home and dumped the poop, the problem was gone, of course.

Yesterday got more difficult at bedtime. It was a full day for Bunny and she had been running around like a madwoman the last two hours before bed so I was sure she’d go down easily, but she didn’t. After nursing, a couple songs, and a prayer, I put her down in her crib expecting her to go to sleep but I was met with very angry screams instead. So, I picked her up and brought her to my bed—her favorite place—hoping that a nice snuggle there would put her to sleep. We snuggled, and we talked and we giggled and before I knew it she was patting my shoulder with her little hand and saying, “Go to sleep, Mommy. Good night, Mommy” and it worked because the next thing I remember was waking up to my husband coming home and taking her from my arms to put her in the crib. As I lay there, half awake realizing that she’d put me to sleep, I cringed as I remembered that I had yet to wash the evening’s diapers.

I went to her room and counted the clean ones—eight total—and seriously considered waiting until the morning to wash them before convincing myself they must be done tonight and dragging my feet to the bathtub to go through the half hour routine of washing them. I admit that I sort of cheated. I didn’t really let them soak long because I was afraid I’d fall asleep while waiting for them to finish soaking, and I only half-heartedly agitated them with my bare feet. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to do some of the wash during the day. That would be so much better!

When it was time to wring them dry, I found that my hands were raw and I couldn’t wring them out myself so my husband came in and did it for me. Then I went downstairs and snapped some of the water off before hanging them on the drying rack.

I didn’t wash any covers yesterday. I want them all ready to be stuffed for tomorrow since tomorrow is day care day and grocery shopping day and I want them to have as many prepped covers as possible. I’m not sure which covers should be washed since I have sort of used them interchangeably and none of them are really soiled, but I know the daycare workers will stick all the covers she’s used in the wet bag and that once they’ve sat there for awhile, it will be necessary to wash them. Good thing they only change her diaper once or twice in the four hours she’ll spend there.

At this point, I’m not yet tired of using flat diapers, but I am tired of hand washing them. I wish I’d bought another dozen so I could do the washing every two days instead of every day. But for just a couple more days, I’ll survive with 18 covers. That, or maybe I’ll make a run to Target and buy those flour sack towels everyone’s talking about since I’ll be grocery shopping anyway.

GUEST BLOGGER

Becca G is a guest blogger for the Cloth Diaper Blog. Becca is a part time Spanish Teacher, a part time stay-at-home-mom, and the wife of the best husband imaginable. Becca’s absolute favorite thing to do is to spend time with her little family. She also enjoys doing anything crafty – from making jewelry, to writing, to sewing, to photography.
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